The concept of tempo and rhythm is a fundamental concept in many athletic activities such as golf, running, cycling or any sport involving rhythmic movements. In golf, when players are playing well, they are known to have good “tempo” or “rhythm” or “timing” and when not, it is that they have bad “rhythm” and their “timing of the shot/ball” is off. Also, you often hear athletes saying that they work on their “tempo” or “timing”.
Every person has his or her own natural beat or rhythm. Typically, each individual is generally unaware of this rhythm. This is unique for every human being, and even if they want to move faster or slower, the beat stays the same, but the lengths of the activity, e.g. strides, get longer or shorter. Additionally, if people have to adapt to the rhythm or beat of someone else, for instance small people or children walking with larger people or adults, they become very uncomfortable and fidgety and “dysrhythmic”.
In the realm of athletics, and in rhythmic activities in general, the aspects of individual tempo play an important role. For example, golfers Tiger Woods, Retief Goosen and Ernie Els walk at tempos of 108, 100 and 95 paces per minute, respectively, and additionally each golfer drives, chips and putts at approximately the same tempo. If, however, they hit a rare mis-hit, the tempo went faster, thus varying from their average pace. Needless to say, these players very seldom go out of step with their natural tempo. That is an inbred phenomenon brought about by natural ability, instinct and many thousands of hours of practice. Thus it is clear that the average tempo of an individual and the concordance of an activity tempo with that tempo are vital to enhanced performance of an individual.